Davos - All posts tagged Davos

A heavyweight Davos panel featuring several central bankers stole the spotlight Saturday, as attendees skipped a day on the slopes to hear about the global economic outlook for 2014.

The seven-person panel included the heads of the Bank of Japan, Bank of England and European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund, as well as a lone voice from the private sector, BlackRock Inc. Chief Executive Laurence Fink. Other speakers included Montek Singh Ahluwalia, deputy chairman of India’s Planning Commission and Wolfgang Schäuble, Germany’s federal minister of finance.

IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde discussed new risks to the global economy, which include the Federal Reserve’s plan to reduce monetary stimulus and deflation.

Bank of England Gov. Mark Carney’s comments last night that there is “no immediate need to increase interest rates” raised questions about the worth of forward guidance, setting the scene for Friday’s WEF panel on the future of monetary policy with Larry Summers.

3:02 am (EST)

Larry Summers to talk on the future of monetary policy

Sara Sjolin

Major central banks have been embarking on aggressive easing programs to rebuild broken economies. But what’s up next as the global outlook improves?

“The Future of Monetary Policy” panel picks the brains of prominent players: Larry Summers, the former U.S. Treasury Secretary who was once a leading contender to become chairman of the Federal Reserve; Haruhiko Kuroda, Governor of the Bank of Japan; George Osborne, the British Chancellor of the Exchequer; Alexandre Tombini, covernor of the Central Bank of Brazil; and Thomas Jordan, chairman of the Governing Board at the Swiss National Bank.

BOE chief Mark Carney’s comments last night at Davos have put forward guidance, and how useful it is to set benchmarks, in the spotlight, so we’ll be watching for any response to this.

But more broadly, around the world, central banks have taken different approaches to monetary policy, and there may be hints as to whether they’ll stay on their respective courses.

The biggest central banks are on a range of tacks: The U.S. has kick-started its much anticipated tapering process, while the euro zone has committed to accommodative measures for “an extended period” of time, and Japan is sticking to ultraloose policy. Meanwhile, the U.K. is trying to steer the markets through forward guidance, which critics say is not working as intended.

Day 2 at Davos, and time for Iranian President Hasan Rouhani to make his pitch for his country’s “new face, post-elections”. Plus panel appearances from Lloyd Blankfein and Jacob Lew on the U.S. economy and competitiveness.

3:58 am (EST)

Rouhani keen to meet oil execs

Karen Friar

Good morning. Less than an hour to go until Hasan Rouhani steps up for his grandstand speech to the Davos elite-masses. At one time, the Iranian president might have seen this as a cloud-free chance to reset trading attitudes to the country, after the nuclear/sanctions deal. But this week’s brouhaha over Syrian peace talks may have taken the shine off somewhat.

“Since it agreed to a deal with Western powers over closer international scrutiny of its nuclear program, Iranian oil officials have been on a charm offensive, eager to get Western oil companies interested again in Iranian oil fields,” says Benoit Faucon in The Wall Street Journal. “Iran needs foreign capital and technology to help exploit the mature fields. But executives—particularly American ones—have been reticent about any public embrace, for now.”

That means Rouhani is very keen to meet Western oil execs, Faucon says.

Chief executives from leading tech companies on Wednesday called for greater transparency over what user data is collected from governments in the name of security.

At “The New Digital Context” session at the Wolrd Economic Forum in Davos, Yahoo
/quotes/zigman/59898/delayed/quotes/nls/yhooYHOO boss Marissa Mayer said the Obama administration needs to more clearly identify what kind of data are collected by the U.S. National Security Agency and what they are used for, in order to restore confidence both in the U.S. and internationally.

After last night’s glittering opener – Hey! It’s Matt Damon! Goldie Hawn! – it’s time to get down to business at Davos. The 2,500 or so delegates have a day chock-full of chat ahead of them. Kicking off bright and early is a session on tech, a focus for WEF this year:

The New Digital Context: What societal and technological forces are reshaping the landscape?

Marissa Mayer (Yahoo), John Chambers (Cisco), Marc Benioff (Salesforce), Randall Stephenson (AT&T) and Gavin Patterson (BT) make up the panel. You can watch the WEF stream live here, or check back later for our take on the session.

While the 2014 edition of the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting doesn’t get properly underway until Wednesday, financial and political leaders are streaming into the Swiss ski resort of Davos, ready to schmooze. Check here for the latest news.

11:01 am (EST)

Guess who's coming to Davos?

Karen Friar

At this very moment, the leading lights in global politics and economics -- plus an accent spot of Hollywood stars -- are moving across Switzerland to Davos, with an evening of saying hello again ahead of them.